The government claimed that Social Security would come to us “as a right” and that “it would never be taxed” and that 1% would be “the most we would ever pay.” Since the government was wrong about all of those things regarding Social Security, why would anyone trust what the government says about Roth IRAs twenty to forty years from now?

Does anyone really believe that they won’t be taxing Roth IRAs before long? Our government, Democrat or Republican, is facing $170 trillion in unfunded liabilities this century. There is no way they can afford allowing people to receive tax-free payments. Why would anyone believe that this would be the case, in a country where everything is always taxed and laws are always changed?

After all, even the Constitution is ignored. McCain-Feingold restricts speech, Kelo restricts property rights, HCR violates Equal Protection clause, etc. Who in their right mind thinks something as small as a Roth IRA will survive?

Even the beloved little HSA will be scrapped under the House and Senate versions of Health Care Reform. How many people donated to those thinking they’d be around forever and they didn’t even last a few years!?

3 comments so far...

yourbilletdoux Said on April 26th, 2010 at 4:21 pm:

This isn’t just a promise that they made, it says in the tax law that Roth IRAs cannot be taxed. It’s not like people don’t pay any tax on it, they are taxed on the income that they put into it unlike a Traditional IRA.

mike1942f Said on April 26th, 2010 at 5:07 pm:

The HSA was not a long term thing – it was a donation each year and in fact some portion of it disappeared if you didn’t use it for health expenses
The Roth IRA was never tax free – you get pay taxes when you take out the money assuming you will have a lower rate then but don’t have to pay taxes on the limited part of your income you are allowed to deposit.
Therefore, you are wrong on two of you rants and that is enough to shoot you down.

yuk22319 Said on April 26th, 2010 at 5:30 pm:

You are correct in your skepticism. We have no guarantees that they wont be taxed. As of right now they are not so the way I see it we have two choices.
1. Invest for our retirement with by using any company pre tax matching options to take advantage of the match. While also investing in a ROTH with after tax money to take advantage of the possibility of tax free growth. Thus resulting in a big pile of money waiting for us when we retire and some of it may also be tax free.
2 Do nothing and have no money when we retire and end up being a burden to our children and others.

I hate paying excessive taxes more than anything but I’m going to do what I have to do to take care of my family in the future. Just be sure to start early and get the power of the compound interest working for you.